Xrays were taken (a second time by a different vet). There doesn't appear to be anything according to the xrays in the chest. It looked clear. A mass did show up in the stomach in the xrays taken today like the xrays that were done yesterday. We are not sure if the mass is attached to the spleen. We have decided to get a ultrasound done to determine whether the mass is a fatty mass or not and if there is anything cancerous around that area. Tomorrow I call to set up an appointment for the ultrasound. Butch will not be getting an operation tomorrow. Regards.

that is great. it doesn't necessarily rule out cancer but if the chest is clear then if you do go ahead with the surgery at some point his chances are better because it hasn't spread. wonderful news keep us posted. :)

I need to set up an appointment for hopefully sometime this week for the ultrasound. But, what I forgot to mention before was that one of the vet's indicated that Butch looked very healthy and that there is a possibility that if something was going on inside of him that was terribly wrong, that we would be seeing some kind of sign of some type of ailment. He is eating fine, he is going to the bathroom fine. IN fact, he's standing here right now next to me trying to get biscuts out of his biscut bag. This made sense to me, that is why we are not rushing into the operation tomorrow but instead will be getting the ultrasound. Thanks so much for all of your great information. It has helped me tremendously in making the right decisions and also not jumping into anything due to panic. I will keep you posted as soon as I find something out further. Thanks again.

Seabreeze - I had a very similar situation with my Sheltie last December. Except that he was showing signs of illness when I took him to the vet. He was very lethargic, not eating, and had lost weight. Anyway, the vet did an x-ray and found an abdominal mass in his spleen region. They also did a chest X-ray and that came back clear. The next day, they did an ultrasound - that in my dog's case - did show that it was cancer that had spread to the liver. Even though we had to put him down, I was very thankful he did not have to go through surgery to find the cancer. I think it is a good sign that your dog is not showing any signs of illness. I would highly recommend an ultrasound and I will wish you and your dog the very best of luck.

I am so very sorry to hear this about your dog. It is hard to have to go through something like this. I have Butch scheduled for an ultrasound tomorrow morning (Tuesday). The vet did mention that since Butch looks healthy, is eating, drinking, etc. and since he has had the mass for awhile and because the mass is so big, that there could be a chance that it is benign but she is not 100% sure about this. I am praying that everything will be ok for him.

I just received a message from the first vet that looked at Butch. She said that the test results on his PVC blood count is 27.5% and that it should be in the 40s. I don't know if this is a very bad sign, or not.

A low PCV indicates a low red blood cell count and could indicate internal bleeding internally. Most likely coming from the mass in the abdomen. Not necessarily good or bad but common with an internal tumor. Hang in there.